The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-10-08
NEWSPAPERS AND EDUCATION
Youths Companion.

Youths CompanIon.-
 The extent to which the knowledge of letters, or at any rate the knowl- edge of reading and writing, has spread among the people of any country, is indicated pretty closely by the num- Der of newspapers, or other period icals, that they read. It is easy to understand that the people of the United States, who spend more money for their own education than any other people in the world, have a greater number of journals, compared with their population, than any other country. In the United States there is published one paper to every four thousand four hundred and thirty three inhabitants.
 The country ill which the propor- tion of newspapers to the population is next greatest is also country where the people govern themselves, and pay great attention to education. This country is Switzerland, and it has one journal to every 5,073 people.
 The next country in what may be called newspaper rank is Denmark, which has small population and free schools. There is one newspaper to every 6,022 people.
 The cases of France and Germany present an exception to the rule, that the newspapers are in proportion to the number of people, relatively to the whole population, who can read. There IS one newspaper to every 8,642 people in France, and one to every 9,474 ill Germany but the proportion of illiterates is, nevertheless, greater in France than in Germany, and the Germans pay much more attention to educational matters than do the French. In nearly the whole of Ger many all children are compelled to go to school.
 The greater proportion of newspa- pers in France is probably due to the keen interest that most of the people have in public affairs, and their great fondness for reading stories. Nearly all French newspapers publish a con tinued story, generally printed in short columns across the bottom of the pages. Many more small, cheap newspapers are published in France and Germany.
 Great Britain and Ireland come next upon the list, with one journal for every II, ,409 inhabitants. There are many illiterates in Ireland and in some parts of England, and the schools are nowhere free, as with us, nor is education compulsory. The newspa- pers, however, arc very widely circu- lated, and, for the most part, very cheap. The very largest daily news papers in London, which pay great sums every year for telegraphic dis patches and other news, are sold throughout the kingdom for one penny (two cents.)
 We find that Sweden comes next on the list, with ole newspaper for every 13,120 people. Very few Swedes are unable to read, and primary education throughout Sweden and Norway is free and compulsory. Perhaps the fact that intemperance prevails to most alarming extent in Swe- den and Norway has something to do with the fact that journals and re- views circulate to less extent there than in other countries where the standard of population is high.
 Austria has one paper to every 4.- Si2 people, and her companion king dom of Hungary only one to every 24,343. This difference is easily un- derstood when we note the fact that in Austria proper eighty eight per cent. of the adults are unable to read and write, and in Hungary only twenty-siX per cent. Even in IIun- gary the newspapers which have the largest circulation are printed in the German language.
 In Italy the number of people who are unable to read is very great, and there is but one paper for every 2O,- 356 inhabitants. The peasants of Italy ere among the poorest in all Europe, Nearly two-thirds of the population over ten years of age arc unable to read, and tifty-nine men and seventy eight women out of every hundred are unable to sign the marriage registers.
 Russia in Europe is at the bottom of the list in the proportion of news papers taken by the people. There is but one journal to every 109,611 peo- pie in Russia. This is easy to under stand when we read that in her gen. eral educational system Russia is still behind even such countries as Japan and Egypt.
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